The parents of a baby that was born prematurely are suing a hospital and pharmaceutical company after the child contracted an intestinal disease and died after taking a widely-used thickening agent.

Jaden Santos was given SimplyThick, a thickening product used to help premature babies with swallowing difficulties, after he was discharged from Florida Hospital in late March 2011, where he was treated after being born at 27 weeks.

Hospital staff gave his parents packets of SimplyThick to take home but soon after he developed severe diarrhea. His parents rushed their son to the emergency room April 8, 2011, but Jaden died that day, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

His twin sister was not given SimplyThick and is alive.

Tragedy: Jaden Santos was given SimplyThick, a thickening product used to help premature babies with swallowing difficulties. His parents believe it led to his death

One month after Jaden died, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning advising parents and health care providers not to feed SimplyThick to premature infants, stating the product may cause necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening condition that attacks intestinal tissue.

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Now Jaden's father, Erik Santos, of Seminole County, has filed a wrongful death suit against SimplyThick and Florida Hospital after an autopsy found the baby, who was three months old when he died, had developed NEC. The packets he received were among the batch the company recalled.

Mr Santos joins a growing list of parents across the country who claim their babies died after taking contaminated packs of SimplyThick, the Sentinel reported.

SimplyThick is added to baby formula and breast milk to help infants swallow it

SimplyThick President John Holahan told the Sentinel: 'We offer our sincere condolences to the Santos family. Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our customers.'

Joe Taraska, one of the attorneys representing Mr Santos, said: 'The saddest part about all this is these were twins, and though they were premature, they would have survived.'

'It's a pretty clear case. There doesn't seem to be an awful lot of doubt here.'

A statement released by Florida Hospital yesterday said it 'considers the safety of our patients to be our number one priority.

We work diligently with the FDA to comply with all alerts and recalls placed on products used in the hospital.'

In its recall notice, the FDA said: 'Since May 2011, the agency has identified 22 infants who developed necrotizing enterocolitis, a condition in which tissue in the intestines becomes inflamed and dies, after being fed SimplyThick.

'Seven of those infants died.

'Further study is needed to determine if there is an actual link between consumption of SimplyThick and the development of NEC.

'But, the FDA wants everyone involved in the care of a baby to be aware of the potential risk before deciding whether to feed SimplyThick to infants of any age.'

It added that half of the infants developed NEC in the hospital, while half developed the condition at home following discharge from the hospital. Fourteen required surgery.